I am also an admitted thug gardener--it is part of what happens with the crapshoot style in that the thugs are the survivors and the takeover-ers. They aggravate me for sure, so then I create 'overflow' gardens to 'get rid of them' and end up with beds of thugs duke-ing it out with each other
and that is yet another disaster!
Add orange cats!
now why didn't I think of that?
I do also have a huge fondness for penstemons and have many different kinds and colors. For the most part, they do very well here. They volunteer like crazy, but they don't transplant very well for me.
In the immediate area there, there are a few:
this cute little yellow one
and this blue, that I so love, which goes so well with the dragonhead
some volunteer mexicalis--purple I think, but they could be pink (the one sold as red), will have to wait 'til they bloom
and these
the purple (with the terrible name and many bad jokes about it) is just starting and the hirsutus has given me quite a few offspring to smother some other plants.
Perhaps a strictus would be better?
like this one
I think the current arrangement is a cacophonous mess and I really don't like it. I am mad at myself because I have been disgusted with it for a few years now and I haven't figured out what to do so I haven't fixed it and consequently it still sucks
and I am having a lot of agony about it currently.
is every penstemon sacred? ha-ha, yes, sort of, and therein lies the problem.
If I re-did it to accommodate hot pink, what colors should I go for to cool it down?
Here is another picture of the hummer that got away--in regular sun, which is how it usually is, so you can see how loud it is
Also, it's shape, hugeness, and sprawl are all wrong for the space. It is waaaaaay too big and I don't know what I was thinking when I planted it in there
Either way--I think the hot pink and lavender pink don't go well together, so one or the other or both should go.
I know I always feel better when the pink penstemon and the red dianthus are done blooming and I go chop their heads off! The verbena plays well enough with all the remaining pink and purplish and blue things that come next and next, so I find that I don't hate on it the rest of the year, except by that dang orange rock.
And back to that dang orange rock...
these live over on the other side of it and I really like them, and I am a huge fan of orange and purple and orange and blue
so I was kinda thinking about how in the world do I transition to existing pastels if I want to get some more oranges and purples on the street-side of that rock?
